April's Fool
by TheRealMaraJade
Summary: What do Weasleys birthdays and April's fool have in common?


Fred and George: April's Fools 

Ron woke up in the morning of his 14th birthday feeling radiant. He always felt thrilled on his birthday, even if his parents couldn't afford many presents. He was glad with the ones he could get, and besides, his birthday's presents were better than his usual Christmas presents (maroon jumper and cakes). 

The real reason Ron felt thrilled about his birthday, though, was because this was the one day, in the whole year, when he was different from his brothers. He wasn't just another Weasley. He was the birthday boy. And not even Fred and George's usual jokes, or not so usual ones, had ever managed to ruin Ron's mood on his birthday. 

Well, unless you counted that one time when Fred had turned Ron's teddy bear into a giant spider. Which Ron suspected had something to do with the fact that the twins had never made mean jokes on Ron's birthday again, since that day. 

Ron quickly drew the curtains of his four-poster bed open, expecting to find Harry, Neville, Dean and Seamus still deeply asleep. It was Saturday, and none of the Gryffindor's fourth years were eager to wake up early during the weekends. 

To his surprise, thought, Ron found the room empty. 

"Weird," Ron said, scratching his head, messing his ginger hair even more. "Is it THAT late?" He threw his legs over the side of the bed. _Maybe they are waiting for me downstairs, with a surprise party and LOTS of food and sweets! Feeling excited, Ron got up looking around for his shoes and clothes, and began to get dressed. _

Ron began thinking how this year his birthday would be even better. Harry had just got through the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament, and therefore Harry was feeling much better these days. Not only because he no longer needed to worry about the Tournament for a few months, but also because Ron had become the center of attention since the Task because of the part he had played in it, leaving Harry to breath a little without so many people fussing about him. 

_Not that I care for the attention, _Ron thought, inexplicably waiting for Hermione to 'tut' at him. But she wasn't there, obviously. _I'm just glad Harry doesn't have everyone goggling at him everywhere he goes. Well, except maybe for Ginny. And Harry deserved a break after what he had gone through, so Hermione probably wouldn't bug them too much if they wanted to party all day long (Ron still remember Hermione's birthday when he, Hermione and Harry had spent the WHOLE day at the library, studying). _

After getting dressed, Ron quickly went downstairs. But when he reached the bottom of the staircase, Ron tripped over his own foot and fell to the floor headfirst. Everything went black. 

When the blackness subsided and Ron finally opened his eyes, he saw four identical heads looming over him. He closed his eyes, hard, and when he opened them again, he saw only one George and one Fred looking worried, and annoyingly amused, at him. 

"That's the second time you trip on your own feet and fall headlong in one month, Ron. What's wrong with you? Brain not following your growth?" 

"Shut it, Fred," George said, helping Ron to sit up. "Are you alright?" 

_Second time? What is Fred talking about?_ "Yeah, I'm fine," answered Ron. 

"Listen, Ron, we need to go to the Owlery and then to the Great Hall before breakfast is over. Everybody is already downstairs eating. Do you think you can manage, or do you want us to bring you something to eat here?" 

"No, I can manage," said Ron, getting up. His head began to spin. "Go ahead, I will be right behind you. I…forgot something." _I should have stayed seated a while longer. _

"Okay. See you downstairs." Fred and George exited through Fat Lady's portrait hole. 

Ron steadied himself in an armchair's back, and when his head stopped spinning, he left the Gryffindors' Common Room and headed downstairs. 

Once he entered the Great Hall, Ron walked quickly by the Slytherins table, not wanting to meet Malfoy or bloody Viktor Krum first thing in the morning of his birthday. When he reached the Gryffindors table, he scanned the table and soon he found out what he was looking for: a mess of untidy black hair next to bushy brown hair. 

Ron dropped on the bench across from Harry and Hermione. "Good morning." 

"Good morning, Ron." Harry said, looking up at Ron, and with a buttered toast in his hand. "Nevillle just got here and said Fred and George had told him you banged your head AGAIN." 

"Are you alright?" asked Hermione, in a higher pitched voice than usual. Ron eyed her, annoyed, missing Harry's glare at her. 

_Surely she is not THAT worried, is she?_ Ron thought. "Yes, I am." 

At that, Harry and Hermione continued to eat their breakfast. Ron felt a little bit annoyed. Had they forgotten his birthday? 

Ron looked around the table. Neville, Dean and Seamus were talking nearby, and they completely ignored him. Ginny was on the other side of the table, talking to Colin Creevey. _Probably about their Harry Potter Fan Club, _Ron thought. Ginny simply waved at him. Soon afterwards, George sat at Ron's left side, while Fred sat down at his right side. 

"Happy birthday…" Harry said through a mouthful of toast. Ron looked up, a grin on his face, and a 'thanks' already coming up his throat. But before Ron could say anything, Harry gulped the toast down, and said, "…Fred and George." 

"Thanks, Harry." George said smiling. 

"Yeah, thanks! You, unlikely some rather rude brother of mine, remembered our birthday!" 

Ron gaped at Fred. "What are you two talking about? Today is NOT your birthday!" 

Before anyone could say anything else, Angelina appeared at Fred's side. "Happy birthday, Fred." She swept down on him and planted one kiss on each of his cheeks. "And happy birthday to you too." Angelina said, giving a friendly tap on George's back. 

Ron was confused. Had he hit his head stronger than he thought? And why the twins and Harry had said that it was the SECOND time he banged his head? 

"Hermione, what day is today?" 

Hermione looked at Ron, visibly nervous, and said. "Look at the time! Harry, Ron, we need to get going or we'll be late for Care of Magical Creatures." Hermione said, standing up and almost dripping her unfinished glass of pumpkin juice. "And Hagrid told us last week that today we'd be starting with Acromantulas." 

Ron paled, missing the twins gaping at Hermione looking astonished. Acromantulas? Surely Hagrid was not THAT crazy…Wait a minute. Today was SATURDAY! There were no classes…Well, unless today really WAS Fred and George's birthday… Was he suffering some kind of memory loss? Maybe he had banged his head in the morning of his birthday, and now banged his head AGAIN this morning, the morning of the twins' birthday, causing his memory to get muddled… Ron was beginning to feel his head spin again. What the BLOODY hell was happening? Today was HIS birthday, not the twins' birthday! Fred and George's birthday was a month away! Ron had never had trouble memorizing those two gits' birthday, because their birthday was on April's… 

"Hermione, what day IS today?" Ron asked again, this time more forcefully. 

Fred cleared his throat, snatching Ron's attention, and answered for Hermione, "Today is April's Fool, Ron. Our birthday." He had a very innocent look on his face. But Ron knew that look pretty well. It was the twins' patented 'I'm-doing-nothing-wrong-Mum' look. 

Ron crossed his arms over his chest. "No, today is not your birthday. Today is March 1st, MY birthday, not yours." 

"No, Ron, your birthday was one month ago. Don't you remember? We nicked food from the kitchen and made a BIG party at Gryffindor's Common Room. Seamus blew up some stuff, Trevor was found hiding from Neville inside our last box of Dr. Filibuster Fireworks…" George trailed off. 

"…And you got so drunk with the Butterbeer we brought you actually swept Hermione off her feet and kissed her until you two almost collapsed for lack of oxygen!" 

At this Ron looked at Hermione. She was blushing so furiously she was actually glowing and irradiating heat. Ron gulped. Had he really lost his memory? 

"Did I… Did I really do that?" Ron's was so pale his freckles were pale too. He looked at Hermione; she was opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish outside water. 

"So, you REALLY don't remember?" Fred asked, a very wicked grin splitting his face. 

"No, I'm telling you I DON'T remember anything!" 

"But you DO remember that earlier that same day Draco Malfoy had given you a Firebolt as a birthday present and apologized about all the nasty jokes he made about you the past four years, don't you?" Fred said, looking very grave. 

Ron looked from one twin to the other, and reached the conclusion that either he had really hit his head stronger than he had thought, or that the twins had completely lost it after thumping both THEIR heads. HARD. 

George cuffed Ron's shoulder and bellowed, "APRIL'S FOOL!" 

By the look on Ron's face, he still thought the twins had completely lost it, so Fred began to explain. 

"Well, you see Ron, today IS April's Fool…and March 1st too. We decided to bring forward the day, since our jokes are less effective on April 1st; after all everyone knows it's our birthday, and everyone expects us to act wickedly on that day, because it's April's fool, and it's our birthday…" 

"…And when you came flying headfirst to the floor of Gryffindor Common Room, we thought we had the perfect victim and the perfect plan we could have asked for. But we weren't counting with Hermione's ineptness at pulling pranks." And with that, Fred eyed Hermione crossly. 

"And all the Gryffindors agreed with us. Your fourth year friends, Angelina - although I think she used this just as an excuse to kiss Fred…" At that, Angelina smacked George's head in the back, "Ouch, that hurts! -, Ginny…and even your best friend Harry Potter." 

Ron looked at Harry, who just shrugged. 

"Hermione gave us a little bit of work, but ultimately we were able to convince her. I wonder why she was refusing so pointedly to make you mad. It didn't seem like something that mattered so much to her, especially if you count that huge fight you two had after the Yule Ball…" 

Hermione's face went completely red at this. So did Ron's ears. 

"But I guess we can't succeed in all our pranks. Here little brother; our birthday present to you." And with that, Fred placed a four-sided yellow package, wrapped by red ribbon, over the table. "Happy birthday." 

Ron looked up at his brothers, and then at his gift. Harry and Hermione said, from across the table, "Happy birthday!" and also placed their gifts over the table. 

Ron smiled. They hadn't forgotten about his birthday after all. He reached for one of the ends of the ribbon wrapping the twins' present, and pulled. 

As soon as the ribbon fell apart from the box, _BOOM!_ The box exploded, covering Ron's face in soot. 

"I told you the amnesia plan was stupid, Fred." 

"Yeah, George, it was a stupid Plan A. But it was a nice diversion for Plan B…" And the twins roared with laughter. 

THE END 


End file.
